Many research studies have shown that digital transformation remains to be a fundamental strategy for businesses to stay relevant. Harvard Business Review predicts game-changing technologies like 5G, AI, and the cloud to be front-runners for mass adoption in the next few years while global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company reports that 71% of the 79 largest consumer firms globally have already put down stakes in the metaverse. And as businesses today are faced with challenges on sustainability, it is achievable through data-driven insights and innovative solutions.

These were the trending topics during the Philippine Digital Convention 2022 (PH Digicon). PLDT Enterprise, the business arm of the largest fully integrated telco services provider PLDT, discussed how innovations are expected to change the business landscape after the pandemic during the panel discussion, “Going Beyond the Future of Tech.”

The panel, moderated by PLDT and Smart FVP and Group Head of Corporate Communications, Catherine Yap-Yang, was joined by ePLDT President and CEO, Victor Genuino, Nokia Vice President and Head of Southeast Asia, Daniel Jaeger, and Cisco IOT APJC Senior Sales Director, Simon Rizkallah.

“Enterprises have realized that in order to remain relevant to their customers, they have to digitally transform, disrupt themselves and the way they conduct business,” says ePLDT President and CEO, Victor Genuino.

When it comes to disruption, global tech giant Nokia is a pioneer. Operating in various industries for over 155 years, it wasn’t until the 1990s that Nokia focused its operations on large-scale telecommunications infrastructure, technology development, and licensing. Since then, Nokia has been operating in 130 countries, won nine Nobel prizes, and has been a trusted partner for critical networks, committed to innovation and technology leadership across mobile, fixed, and cloud networks. They have gone from ‘connecting people’ to now ‘helping the world act together’.

“Indeed, the tagline that we are carrying now is much bigger than the previous one,” shares Daniel Jaeger, Nokia Vice President and Head of Southeast Asia. “It has not completely changed, but…became a bit bigger. Yes, we are still connecting people with technology that we provide with the networks that we build and partners like Smart and PLDT, but it goes way beyond that.”

Just like the theme for the 2022 conference, Nokia continues to embody what it means to be ‘boundless’ going above and beyond for its partners and customers and expanding their technology portfolio to help build the capabilities needed for a more productive, sustainable, and inclusive post-pandemic world.

Adding to Nokia’s commitment and capabilities is their pledge towards an environmentally friendly and sustainable future. As they said at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP26 climate summit in November 2021: “There is no green without digital.” Nokia wants to lead the way on the global stage in making the case for digitalization as central to addressing the climate challenge.

Jaeger echoed this commitment when he said, “Of course, we start at home, and the first question is how do we make the networks that we build as efficient and as green as possible?”

“It’s not just a job that we have to do,” he explains further. “But it’s really a contribution that we as the communications industry, in a broader sense, need to do.”

Nokia has made the call for accelerated digitalization and green energy uptake and has committed to use 100% renewable electricity in its own operations by 2025.

ePLDT, on the other hand, has been an advocate of sustainability by pushing for greener data centers in the country. Genuino believes that sustainability starts with the customers. “They’ve been asking us difficult questions that push us to reassess how we run our business,” he says. “It’s our customers that drive us to be innovative in the way we build [our] data centers, source power and manage our operations.”

More than servicing its customers, it has been one of the PLDT Group’s core values to champion a sustainable future as it continues to build infrastructures to improve the country’s digital ecosystem.

From helping the world connect to ensuring that it does so in as green as possible, Nokia and the PLDT Group are paving the way for the future– in building a sustainable and transformative tomorrow.

PH Digicon remains to be the Philippines’ most prestigious, and one of the most sought-after digital thought leadership events in APAC that brings together global thought leaders and technology experts from across all industries. For more information, visit https://pldtenterprise.com/.